2022 NFL Team Preview: The Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are starting their latest rebuild in 2022. As a result, wins and losses won’t be the measure of a good season.

The Chicago Bears enter the 2022 season starting their latest rebuild. After only six winning seasons in the past 30 seasons, George McCaskey, the Chairman of the Board, hired Ryan Poles to be the next general manager to change things. Poles tapped Matt Eberflus to be the new head coach.

Poles inherited a mess from the previous GM, Ryan Pace. There were about three dozen free agents on the roster, a few bloated contracts, and not much salary cap space.

Poles made a decision to cut ties with some fan-favorite veterans like Danny Trevathan, Akiem Hicks, and Khalil Mack. He figured that he had to cut those salaries so he had salary flexibility going forward.

That is exactly what he accomplished. As a result, the Bears have the highest salary cap space in the NFL next offseason with over $100 million. That makes Chicago a major player in free agency.

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2022 isn’t about wins/losses

The only problem with that approach is that the 2022 season will be another one with struggles. Poles went out and found bargain-basement deals for players.

Many fans weren’t used to seeing this type of philosophy. With Pace and the other general managers, they made some big, splashy moves. However, the rest of the roster wasn’t so good.

With Poles, however, he wants to build a complete team. He wants to build a consistently winning team. As we saw with the others, fielding a winning team six times in 30 years is not good enough.

It might hurt in 2022, but things will look up in 2023 and beyond.

For the Chicago Bears, the main concern for the 2022 season is developing their young players, especially quarterback Justin Fields.

Poles did a great job of adding draft picks. The Bears only had five draft picks when he took over. He made some deals and those five picks became 11. The best thing about that was that he still ended up keeping the two second-round picks he had. That keeps the narrative of the future more important than this season.

Fields needs help

The offense has a new look. With Eberflus being a defensive-minded coach, he had to make sure he had a good offensive coordinator. The Bears then hired Luke Getsy. Getsy was the quarterbacks coach with the hated Green Bay Packers. He had the fortune of working with one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, Aaron Rodgers. Now he’s tasked with helping Fields get to that level.

For Fields to develop, he needs some weapons. He has Darnell Mooney, who had a breakout season last year. Fields and Mooney have a special bond that they formed last season. They worked in the offseason to make their bond even better.

The question is who steps up behind Mooney. Poles overhauled the wide receiver unit. Only Mooney and Dazz Newsome returned from last year. Byron Pringle, Equanimeous St. Brown, Tajae Sharpe, Dante Pettis, N’Keal Harry, and Chris Finke are battling for roster space. Additionally, Poles drafted Velus Jones Jr. in the third round.

Another key to Fields’ development is the offensive line. That unit has been a sore spot for the Chicago Bears for too long. Poles let James Daniels leave as a free agent. He did, however, sign Lucas Patrick to take over at center. Also, he signed Riley Reiff to be the left tackle and Michael Schofield to play right guard.

Furthermore, Poles ended up drafting four offensive linemen. Not all of them will end up being contributors right away but they’ll sit and learn and be ready for the future (again the future is more important than today).

One rookie who will get some snaps this season is Braxton Jones. He was the Bears’ fifth-round pick. During minicamps and OTAs, he worked hard to impress the coaches and, before the Bears signed Riley, was listed as the starting left tackle on the depth chart. He looks to be the future starter there.

Teven Jenkins found himself in the doghouse after Jones took over at left tackle. However, the coaches moved him to right guard and he should beat out Schofield for that spot.

Running game finally more involved

In Getsy’s offensive system, the running game will be more involved. Yes, we heard former head coach Matt Nagy talk about doing it and then abandoning it. However, the Packers use the running game to complement the passing game and it works. Getsy should do the same in Chicago.

David Montgomery returns, ready for a breakout season. He was on his way to having his best season last year before a knee injury kept him out for a month. Still, he ended up with 1,150 total yards from scrimmage.

This is the final year of Montgomery’s rookie deal. He wants to show that he deserves a new deal.

Behind him is Khalil Herbert. He had a good rookie season, especially in Montgomery’s absence.

Trestan Ebner is the Bears’ sixth-round pick. He has some explosive speed and he does a good job of catching passes. He could be the Tarik Cohen replacement.

The Bears are also going with a fullback as well. The fullback could help the offensive line in opening new holes. That guy for Chicago is Khari Blasingame.

Having the running game complement is important for the offense. The Chicago Bears will now involve the running game and that will help not only the offense but also Fields’ development. If the defense has to account for the rush then Fields will have less pressure and more space to complete passes.

Kmet looks to take the next step

Tight end Cole Kmet is another player ready to take the next step. His play has been controversial. Many fans expect more from him and feel he might not be the guy. However, tight ends take longer to develop, though.

Last season, Kmet had 60 catches for 612 yards, averaging 10.2 yards per catch. That is impressive, considering how bad the offense was in 2021.

The one valid criticism for Kmet is the touchdowns. He did not score a touchdown last season. With the offensive problems, however, that could be a reason. Hopefully, with a better system, Kmet could receive more targets in the end zone.

Special teams could really be special

The Chicago Bears’ special teams could end up being pretty good in 2022. There were some changes made but it looks as if they improved the unit.

They let dependable punter Pat O’Donnell walk via free agency and now have a rookie, Trenton Gill.

Gill has done a great job of punting so far this preseason. In two games, he has punted the ball seven times inside the 20. That is important since the offense might take a while to get going. Gill might have to try to flip the field so the opponent has a long field.

While Jones is expected to be a contributor on offense, he’ll also be a big key on special teams. His speed and explosiveness are a big advantage for the Bears in the open field. We already saw last week how dangerous he is returning. He had a 31-yard kickoff return and a 48-yard punt return. The offense will have a short field to work with a few times this season with Jones returning.

Cairo Santos is still his dependable self. He’ll continue to make field goals. This season, however, he likely has more opportunities to score with more field goal attempts as well as more extra point attempts.

Additionally, Gill has helped Santos on kickoffs. Santos is an accurate kicker but he doesn’t have a powerful leg. Gill has done a good job of getting the ball deep into the end zone, cutting down the number of return attempts.

Will the Monsters return on defense?

Since the Chicago Bears had one of the toughest defenses in 2018, things have gone downhill. They ranked 22nd in points allowed and 26th in turnovers caused. Against the run, something that was a staple of the defense, they ranked 23rd in yards allowed.

With Eberflus in charge, the defense went from their 3-4 base to 4-3. That meant a change in personnel. Now, the line consists of Trevis Gipson and Robert Quinn, who were linebackers last season. Additionally, they have Angelo Blackson and Justin Jones to man the middle.

The Bears have a problem with linebacker depth. They have Nicholas Morrow, Roquan Smith, and Matt Adams as the starter. However, behind them, they have a lot of inexperienced players. Jack Sanborn had an incredible first preseason game, but we need to see what happens when the regular season begins.

Smith is finally back in the fold after a hold-in. He wanted a new contract and things got heated. Smith requested a trade, which was, of course, denied.

Smith ended up coming back without a new deal. He will now play out his rookie deal and try to earn a big payday. That might be some bad news for the Bears’ opponents. He will play as hard as possible for that contract.

Last season the biggest disappointment was the secondary. There were too many missed tackles and bad plays late in games. The Bears could have had at least another three wins had it not been for the secondary.

Poles spent his two second-round picks on the secondary. He selected cornerback Kyler Gordon and safety Jaquan Brisker. Those two seem like they are ready to make big contributions.

With Gordon, opponents can no longer just avoid Jaylon Johnson. A lot of quarterbacks just decided to go to the other struggling cornerbacks instead of taking a chance against Johnson.

Brisker had a great opening game. He looked like a seasoned veteran going against the Kansas City Chiefs starters. If he can do the same during the season it provides a big boost. Eddie Jackson has not been the same the last couple of seasons. He tried to do too much and it cost him. Now, with Brisker, he can just concentrate on the ball and return to the turnover-causing machine he was.

This team won’t be challenging for a playoff spot. They’ll likely get about six wins, in fact. However, they will be competitive in every game and their young players will develop nicely and end up being key contributors moving forward.

Chicago Bears fans have to deal with another struggling season but the future should be bright.